14 Jun 1985, Posted by Scott An Chora in Travelogue, No Comments.

06/14 Dublin, Ireland

We paid twenty pounds each for deck passage to Ireland.  Everybody we had been crossing paths with had one priority, duty free beer.  Especially a couple of guys from the states.  One was from San Diego and the other from somewhere outside of Boston Massachusetts.  I was still tired from the long walks and late nights in Liverpool, so I thought I’d catch up on some sleep.  After two beers sleep wasn’t hard to find.  Jim volunteered to watch our bags so I wandered off and found myself a comfortable place to grab some sleep.  After a few hours I woke up thirsty and began wandering about the boat in search of water.  It was then I discovered Jim sleeping with our un-chaperoned bags completely out of his reach.  I slipped off with both bags and used them as a pillow for the rest of the night.  With the morning sun so came Jim, “You have the bags, right?” He had convinced himself that the bags were with me all the time.  Lesson learned.

Our initial plan was to hitch across Ireland.  An afterthought was to rent bicycles.  But the clouds above looked like they were there to deliver rain, so we procrastinated making that decision.  We let rooms in a local hostel and Jim crawled off to sleep.  I headed into town, got wrapped up in a couple of bars and made a couple of donations at the dog track.  At the track I knew if I couldn’t identify the alpha before they left the gate I ought to get out of the pool.

While heading up O’Connor Street I stopped a pair of officers for directions.  It was getting late and curfew was just around the corner.  The officers had a hard time understanding how could I find my way back if I didn’t know where I was going, “Just give me a signpost, please”.  B&B’s are an excellent way to meet locals.  Hostels on the other hand are better if you’re interested in meeting up with other travelers.  A good source of suggestions, like on places to avoid, or where to meet girls.